Tales of a Chinese restaurant kid

At his family’s Chinese restaurant, a young Curtis Chin was encouraged to talk to strangers.  The Detroit eatery, called Chung’s, was founded by Curtis’s great-grandfather in 1940 and drew diners from all walks of life, including then-Mayor Coleman Young, Hollywood stars, drag performers, and sex workers.

Chung’s closed in 2000, but the restaurant comes back to life in Chin’s memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.”

On this episode of Challenge. Change., the author-filmmaker shares the joys of being a “Chinese restaurant kid” during a discussion with Associate Provost and Dean of the College Betsy Huang, English Professor Jeff Noh, Chloe Yau ’24, a Community, Youth, and Education Studies major, and Zabrina Richards ’25, a political science major.

“Everybody goes to a Chinese restaurant. It’s one of the places where you can go and see people from a different race, socioeconomic background, class background, religious background, sexual orientation,” Chin says. “As a kid, I got to see all of Detroit. It was wonderful as a writer, as a creative person, to have that shape me as a kid.”

Chin also shared musings on family, identity, coming out, and getting famous during a conversation with the wider campus community. The visit was part of Chin’s national book tour.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.